2015 is going to be a big year for movies with a lot of blockbusters. Here are the 10 movies we at The Nerd Signal are most looking forward to.
Jupiter Ascending – February 6
I will freely admit to being a fan of the Wachowskis and look forward to anything the pair have on the horizon. I’m a Matrix sequel apologist and I absolutely love Speed Racer. Hell, while I didn’t particularly care for Cloud Atlas, even it had some interesting ideas. But I’m genuinely looking forward to Jupiter Ascending.
Jupiter Ascending is the pair’s first attempt at a space opera and damn if it’s not ambitious (though ambition is never in short supply when they’re involved). Factor in that it’s a female-led original science-fiction film that’s not a sequel, prequel or adaptation and you’ve got a project that brings some very important things to the table that are sorely lacking in today’s genre landscape.
What We Do in the Shadows – February 13
They’re just your average, everyday vampires trying to get by in a century they were never prepared for. From Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords, this horror-comedy-mockumentary has been a festival darling since it debuted at Sundance in January of 2014.
What We Do in the Shadows follows a group of vampires who accidentally sire a guy who refuses to keep his new-found undeadness a secret, leading to visits from vampire hunters and a night out at a club populated by witches, werewolves and zombies. It could be the best thing to come from Australia’s Canada to not involve Peter Jackson in, well, ever.
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron – May 1
Is there anyone in the world not looking forward to Avengers 2?
Mad Max: Fury Road – May 15
This is a movie that absolutely should not work, but I’ll be damned if it doesn’t look awesome. It’s been 30 years since Thunderdome and George Miller has spent almost that entire time trying to get a fourth Mad Max film made, only to have every idea he’s had shot down (he even suggested an animated version after Mel Gibson gave up on the movie ever happening). After decades in Development Hell, Miller’s passion project is finally making its way to theatres, now starring This Means War‘s Tom Hardy.
Nearly everything we’ve seen and heard about Fury Road so far has been beyond promising (see what I did there?), from Miller’s comments that the film would be “a chase that starts as the movie begins and continues for 110 minutes” to the abundance of practical effects to Charlize Theron’s sweet Tank Girl cosplay.
Jurassic World – June 12
Jurassic World might just be the most meta film of the year. Director Colin Trevorrow and co-writer (both of Safety Not Guaranteed) decided to take the waning interest in the Jurassic Park franchise head-on and make that meh incite the plot. They posit a world where not only has the dinosaur theme park opened, but the guests have become bored with it, much like how the original film’s effects blew audiences’ minds but in the ensuing decades that kind of spectacle has become commonplace. So both the film and the park within it respond by creating a crazy-ass mutant hybrid dinosaur.
Basically we’re talking about a huge-budget big-screen SyFy movie with real actors and filmmakers and effects worthy of the premise. I am so goddamn excited.
Crimson Peak – October 16
It’s been a very long time since Guillermo del Toro’s made a horror film, and very little is known about his return to the genre. All we really know about Crimson Peak is that it’s a classic 70’s style haunted house ghost story, but considering the fact that del Toro’s never made a bad movie (and his early horror work was especially good), it’s a safe bet that this will continue the trend.
Jem and the Holograms – October 23
The live-action adaptation of Jem and the Holograms is the wildcard of the list, with the biggest potential to go either way. Jon Chu (director of Step Up 2: The Streets, Step Up 3D, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and G.I. Joe: Retaliation, so you know he has both music and cartoon chops) announced the film in March and finished filming exactly three months and four days later. And yes, all the casting was done in that time, with Juliette Lewis and Molly Ringwald joining within the last five days of the shoot. Oh yea, and they let the internet help with the movie (but not original creator Christy Marx).
With the sheer ridiculousness of its production, this thing will either be a hot pink train wreck or the next Josie and the Pussycats, but no matter what happens I’ll be there opening night,
Spectre – November 6
A new Bond movie is always something to look forward to, especially when Christoph Waltz is totally not playing Blofeld.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2 – November 20
It’s the final installment of the franchise that got pre-teen girls to read post-apocalyptic science-fiction (and if you look down on those girls you can go straight to hell). Mockingjay might not have been the best of the books, but that definitely doesn’t mean it was bad (except for the totally wrong call on the shippy stuff at the end, I’m still mad about that) and given the quality of the Hunger Games films thus far I have total faith Francis Lawrence will stick the landing.
Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens – December 18
Episode VII is probably everyone’s most anticipated movie of the year. Despite the hit and miss quality of the prequels and J.J. Abrams’ filmography, the franchise has been doing so much right lately that people can’t help but be excited. The Clone Wars and Rebels cartoons were and are excellent, respectively, and what little Abrams has let out of the Mystery Box has been exactly what we’ve all wanted to hear.
And if you can’t find a place in your heart for that little soccer ball droid (called BB8, by the way), it’s because that heart is cold and black and dead.
